U.S. Consulate General Press Releases (1998)

U.S. Consulate General to Begin New Visa Information Service

News Release
September 4, 1998
Friday

HONG KONG - The U.S. Consulate General will begin a new telephone service September 7 to handle requests for visa information. The new service should virtually eliminate the busy signals that have frustrated many callers. It will also provide more detailed and comprehensive answers to the most commonly asked visa questions in a format that will allow callers to choose which information they want to hear.

The telephone number for the new visa information line is 900-6038-8038. This recorded service will be available 24 hours a day in three languages (English, Cantonese and Putonghua). It is a "900 service," which means it is a local toll call, and it will cost HK $6 per minute. In addition, visa information will continue to be available on the Consulate General's Web site and through personal and written inquiries.

The new telephone service has become necessary because of the increasing volume of visa inquiry calls. The Consulate General currently receives about 20,000 telephone inquiries a month, and consular officials processed nearly 200,000 applications last year.

The new visa information service is superior to the old telephone recording in several ways:

• It will be able to handle 24 calls at a time, compared to only four calls for the old system. This should virtually eliminate busy signals.
• The information available will be broader in scope and more detailed.
• Callers will no longer have to listen to the entire recorded message to find the information they need. They can choose from a menu of choices to select the information they want to hear, and they can end the call at any time. Callers must use a touch-tone phone that has IDD access. (Mobile phones and public telephones will also work.)
• There is a call-back option. Persons who listen to the tape and do not find the information they need can leave a message with their specific question, and a member of the consular staff will call them back within 24 hours with the answer. There is no charge for this call-back.
• The new service should free up the switchboard so that people who have other business with the Consulate General will be able to get through more easily.

The "900 service" is project-managed and designed by AT&T and provided through Hong Kong Telecom. Callers will be charged on their usual telephone bill in six-second increments. Although fairly new to Hong Kong, 900 service automated response systems are increasingly common in the U.S. and elsewhere as a way of providing information to a large number of callers.

This new telephone toll service will supplement other forms of visa information that will continue to be offered by the Consulate General free of charge:

• The Consulate General Web site includes extensive information about visa rules and procedures.
• Applicants may come to the Consulate General in person to ask questions.
• Persons may send in written requests for information by mail.

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